Sunday, June 12, 2011

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 'new' film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" at Northwest Film Forum: Jun 17 - 30

Mesmerizing, dreamlike, hypnotic, playful, quiet, often reflective, dualistic, multiple-narrative cinematic wanderings through the Thai landscape, urban centers, outlying rural expanses, caverns of the dead, and deep jungles, through the eyes of their key progressive cinematic voice. Contemporary culture also plays a large role, often just as a foil to contrast the natural splendor and life of the people and their relationship with the vibrant green spectacle that is the jungle. Often surreal, or hinting at the metaphysical (or as in "Tropical Malady" direct interaction with the spirit world) his films both describe the life of a people as they are, as they once were (first chapter of "Syndromes and a Century" for example) and in the more abstract passages, suggesting how they could be, both in waking and dreaming. Beautiful capsules of cinema that remind the viewer of the small insights into the otherworldly that take place in the everyday ...the films of Apichtapong Weerasethakul are possibly summed up by his most recent here, the Cannes Palme d'Or Winning "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives". Finally landing in Seattle after showing in New York, San Francisco, Portland and most of the west coast this past Winter and Spring. Thank you Northwest film Forum for having the insight to make it a two-week screening!

From the Northwest Film Forum: "Winner of the Palme d'Or (2010 Cannes Film Festival, jury headed by Tim Burton), Uncle Boonmee is a dreamy, gently reassuring tale told by a man at the end of his life as he contemplates reincarnation. A ghost story told with the calm and patience of a prosaic tale of country living, the film concerns the final days of Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar), an aging farmer suffering from a kidney disease. The film moves at the tranquil pace of a lazy afternoon, and this quiet grace allows the frequently outrageous and bizarre elements of the story to blend seamlessly into reality, appearing as natural as the background hum of insects or the gentle murmur of the wind. Boonmee is the latest and most memorable of Apichatpong’s tender, poetic, supernatural and semi-autobiographical reveries."

Documenting adventures in explorative modern music, film, visual art, architecture, design and performance. Regardless of genre, class or style. Essentially thoughts, reflections and criticism on non-commercial contemporary artforms that come to my attention. Either through witnessing them here in my home city, while traveling abroad, or the journalistic work of others. As well as occasional interjections of existential, experiential, cultural or political enthusiasms and consternations that may crop up along the way. ie; Life.